EXPERIENCES & REMINISCENCES. 109 



owing to the terrific wind which was blowing- it was found 

 necessary not only to anchor the boat with two large stones 

 down, but also to put out a mooring line to a fence on the bank. 

 This being done operations were soon commenced, but for 

 nearly an hour no response was made to the kindly attentions 

 lavished upon such members of the family Cyprinus Barbatus 

 as happened to have arisen thus early from their watery 

 couches. Mr. Hopper does not by this mean to suggest that 

 they had watered their couches with their tears shed in regret 

 at their rash relatives taken from their family circle the previous 

 evening, but it stands to reason that, being at the bottom of the 

 river, their couches would be more or less damp. At the end 

 of one hour Mr. Hopper landed a three-and-a-half pounder, 

 and then it commenced to rain as if the floodgates of well, say 

 the river Styx had been opened and the waters let loose. 

 This state of affairs put the barbel clean off, and made the boat 

 decidedly the reverse of comfortable as a temporary sitting 

 place, so friend Brown and Mr. Hopper in common parlance 

 " chucked " it, and hauled up the stones, and pulled to the 

 fence end, which projected slightly over the river, and having 

 secured the boat there then trudged for a mile over as wet fields 

 as it has ever fallen to Mr. Hopper's lot to travel, and made for 

 Dunham village, where the " feast " was being held. Fishing was 

 out of the question, in consequence of the downpour of rain, so 

 " high times " were held at the feast, and after friend Brown (who, 

 shocking to relate, is a married man) had flirted desperately with 

 all the brown-eyed damsels in the village who would be flirted 

 with (Mr. Hopper meanwhile having been most discreet in fact it 

 took him all his time to look after Brown) it was decided about 

 5 o'clock to try and find Billyboy and return to the river for 

 the evening's fishing. Mr. Hopper's search after Billyboy was 

 very short, as he soon found him " feasting " upon some lovely 

 brown eyes in a snug corner of a certain tavern. Billyboy, 

 being a bachelor, was forgiven by Mr. Hopper, who, however, 

 insisted upon the brown-eyed enchantress being left to the 

 tender care and soothing caresses of some other love-sick swain. 

 A bucolic individual being soon found to supply Billyboy's 



